S06.E03: The Ex-Factor

[scarynikki12]

Quote

The Legends find themselves in 2045 trying to defeat an Alien warrior which leaves Zari no choice but to enter a popular singing competition.

 

 

[scarynikki12]

Yay for Zari focus!

It’s still so weird that Zari’s ex is known for wearing a s’mores helmety thing.

Of course Zari will compete in the Eurovision thing.

A planet of Ava’s clones is a legit nightmare. 

Con’s makeover managed to both suit him 100% and look 100% wrong. Loved it. 

No wonder Zari loves the Legends. In addition to their general awesomeness they don’t actively betray her at the drop of a hat.

Lord Knox synthesized the voice of a One Hit Wonder which made me laugh. And it turns out he’s from Men In Black.

Of course Zari big win includes Con and the other contestants.

Zari and Con finally took the step into boyfriend/girlfriend land.

Mick did more in his five minutes to get them on the path to find Sara than Ava’s done all season. More proof she shouldn’t be Captain.

[tarotx]

I can't stand Ava as captain and lead of the show even more than I knew I would detest it already. I want to do to her what Rory did to that cute little Alien. Her telling Rory to get off her ship instead of understanding that he missed Sara  😞 Nate even tried to tell her! Ava's a garbage leader! All we do is watch Sara suffer where her team (other than Rory) isn't mourning her at all. Even Ava wasn't this episode. I'm already sick of this season. 

Edited May 17, 2021 by tarotx

[Primal Slayer]

They are doing a great job with the alien aspect but from a DC standpoint this show doesnt do much for me anymore. But when I look at it from a completely different point of view of a show that is just a random time traveling show that happens to repeat itself year over year...I'm still enjoying it.

I literally gasped which I rarely do when Rory just murdered the little alien dude and everyone was like "OMG. OH whatever"

[Lantern7]

I keep forgetting that Zari has levels of depth, as well as a black belt in presence. Would "TARDIS" be too unwieldy a nickname for her? It's because she's a lot bigger on the inside.

I still think it's a bit tragic that social media is still a huge deal a quarter-century in the future. Of course the Alien of the Week would fit right in. Shit, he could've been an impossibly large head shouting "SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!" and no one would have batted an eye.

Not really hating Ava as (acting) captain. Rory sulking was more bothersome, at least to me. I'm thinking if Ray was still there, hundreds of "DON'T POKE THE RORY" signs would have been put up for Spooner's benefit.

Heh. Gary ate a lot of Ava clones. His own personal nightmare. And were we supposed to recognize the guy Sara met at the end?

[lurker22]

I did not sign up for the Ava Show. Why is the supposed Sara storyline that takes her away from her team still all about Ava?

[tv echo]

Despite the show's constant pushing to make Ava (and Jes Macallan) the new lead of LoT, it's clear - at least to me - that Tala Ashe is the real breakout star of LoT.

Edited May 17, 2021 by tv echo

[cambridgeguy]

10 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

Mick did more in his five minutes to get them on the path to find Sara than Ava’s done all season. More proof she shouldn’t be Captain.

He also walked in and murdered a defenseless little alien, so maybe he's not a shining example of how to behave? 

And they're being pretty obvious about having Spooner being Mick 2.0, complete with whipping out her gun at the drop of a dime.  Don't worry, stick around and soon they won't really mind when you start shooting things.

[Sakura12]

I figured Sara's so called "storyline" would end being about Ava but didn't know it would be so much about Ava that we have her clones around too. I hope they are paying you well Caity, because your character means nothing to the writers anymore. She went from star of the show to just a love interest. 

I did enjoy the Zari story, Tala Ashe is doing a great job. The reality show part was fun and stupid like reality shows can be. The songs were a little lacking though. 

Mick reverting back to old Mick to me just shows how much Sara means to him. I'm just happy that someone doesn't just accept Ava as the leader when she just put her self there.  

[lurker22]

Finally saw the whole episode. It was more boring to me than the last one. I just kept looking at the clock wondering why the episode wasn't over yet. I think because I watch a lot of these singing competition shows, this fake one wasn't all that creative or different from what we are doing IRL. It's basically a mash-up of AGT, Masked Singer and The Voice with the virtual audience and voting. At least The Voice had great judges and the songs/singers are great. There wasn't even any funny moment for me.

The replacement of Sara as Captain continues, with Spooner saying Ava knows very well how to utilize her team's strengths (something I thought was Sara's strength as leader), to Ava calling Waverider "her" ship (to an OG Legend who was there much longer no less), to Mick calling Ava "Cap" at the end. Why do we even need Sara?

Speaking of Sara, she barely had anything to do again, other than literally following Ava around and telling us that Ava's her reason to live. Ugh. No wonder Caity said she had more free time this season.

I did like how Mick really took initiative to find Sara again. In fact, Ava was way too disrespectful when she dismissed the idea that Mick is acting out because he was worried for Sara. Hey Ava, Mick knows Sara and is part of her team/family way longer than you have. Even Nate knows that.

[Sakura12]

They got their new Sara with Ava and their new Mick with Spooner. So the OG's are just unnecessary. 

And I just noticed they are repeating the Rip storyline with Sara. With her missing, most of this current team not being close with her or not knowing her at all (Spooner, New Zari). They put a new Captain in charge that bonds with the new team. So now they are not only giving all Sara's skills to Ava they are repeating her storylines too. Only its not at all earned like Sara's was. Sara put in the work as a team member first and showed she leader by making plans and putting her team first. 

With Ava they keep showing that she doesn't understand people, has to constantly be reminded to think of others and when she does "learn" to listen, she forgets about it as soon as something she needs and wants comes up. Ava is all about Ava and not the team. Why would anyone follow her? 

[lurker22]

13 minutes ago, Sakura12 said:

With Ava they keep showing that she doesn't understand people, has to constantly be reminded to think of others and when she does "learn" to listen, she forgets about it as soon as something she needs and wants comes up. Ava is all about Ava and not the team. Why would anyone follow her? 

Well, like you said, Ava has already bonded with Spooner and Zari ("Aves, do you trust me?" "Always"). Nate seems close to Ava and perfectly content being her emotional support. Obviously, Gary will die for Ava. Mick will be gone soon but he's already fully accepted Ava as the Captain this episode. Constantine and Behrad are linked to Zari so they'll be fine with Ava. Astra's barely around (I forgot she's missing this episode too. Is she a series regular?)

I really, really feel that Sara will give up her Captain's seat to Ava when she comes back. Even if not, she'll just be the Captain in name, but Ava's basically going to run the team.

[cambridgeguy]

The other thing is that no one else wants to be the captain.  Zari 1.0 would have done a good job but you can't be captain if you're stuck in a totem.  This has always been a thing for the Legends across all of their incarnations - most members don't want to be in charge and are happy to follow the leader.  Sara didn't exactly jump at the opportunity either, she just took it on because no one else could do it.  Let's face it, being the boss sucks.

[Starfish35]

Avalance not withstanding, I still kind of feel like this is a way to edge Caity Lotz out the door.  I don’t know.  Maybe that’s just paranoia talking, but honestly I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if she didn’t end up coming back next season. 

[Sakura12]

1 hour ago, Starfish35 said:

Avalance not withstanding, I still kind of feel like this is a way to edge Caity Lotz out the door.  I don’t know.  Maybe that’s just paranoia talking, but honestly I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if she didn’t end up coming back next season. 

I'm getting that feeling too. They have to be more careful with Sara's exit then they were with the others they didn't want anymore. Avalance is popular and they can't afford to lose those fans. She'll either leave or her role will be even more reduced next season.

[tennisgurl]

So when the writers were writing this season, were they just like "Ava's one outrageous lady! She's totally in my face!" "When Ava isn't around, people should be saying "Where's Ava?" for every episode? I'm sorry but Ava is just not an interesting enough character to carry an entire show as the lead, and the more the show tells us how awesome a captain and fiancé and person Ava is, the more they don't seem to want to show it. She just doesn't have the charisma to lead the team, not the way Sara does, or even Rip used to. It was especially annoying in Ava's interactions with Mick this week, she wasn't wrong to tell him to stop moping and actually get with the program, but she's so shitty about it, especially when Nate dared to remind Ava that other people besides her are missing Sara and she about bit his head off. Oh Nate, don't you remember the new rules? Only Ava is allowed to have any kind of relationship with Sara now. 

Of course Sara cant even have an adventure on the other side of the galaxy without it all being about Ava, like Sara isn't her own character anymore and is just one half of Avalance, even finding a whole Ava planet. God what a nightmare, can you even imagine? I would rather go sunbathing on Hoth before being stuck on a whole planet of Ava's. 

Despite my annoyance with this show deciding that Ava is their true hero now for some reason, I did mostly like this episode. As much as they have tried to push Ava as the shows breakout star, its clear that Zari (both versions) and Tala Ashe are the shows real superstar. The talent show was some weird futuristic version of The Voice, The Masked Singer, and a Snapchat Filter, not exactly anything new when it comes to TV versions of TV singing contests but it was fun still, and I like seeing Zari in her element in the future. Its been so long it can be easy to forget that she is actually a celebrity in her regular life, so it was fun to see her mix that part of her life and her life with the Legends. I like that they never had her apologize for her life as an influencer and pop culture star, it might be silly but she did do a lot of good with that life, and that she managed to find a way to balance both parts of her, the pop part and the rock part. I continue to really like her and Constantine together, and seeing him exposed to her glamourous future life was a good way to move their relationship forward. They even called each other boyfriend and girlfriend! Nate and Behrad as Zari's glam team was fun as well, even if they didn't get much to do they did a lot with what they got. 

This is definitely the most action Mick has gotten since the season started, and of course he makes way more progress saving Sara in about three seconds then Ava has since the season started. Obviously Mick is going to upset about Sara being missing and possibly dead, as was mentioned this makes him the last one of original recruits from Rips first team, its actually similar to how he reacted to Ray being possessed by Neron, just he had Sara to help get him back on track. I am glad he got an actual plot, even though I didn't like him stomping the alien. Not that it was out of character for Mick, especially as he is quickly regressing without Sara, its really weird how everyone else was so cool with him just murdering the alien. Its one of those times when the wacky took precedence over the story or characters. Spooner continues to be alright, but pretty unnecessary. 

[srpturtle80]

I spent the entire episode wanting to give Ava a hair brush, her hair looked really stringy to me...

I loved the little alien at the end so of course Mick had to step on him. 🤦🏼‍♀️
 

[thuganomics85]

Any episode that is Zari-centric will obviously get on my good side, and this was no exception for the most part.  The show's take on the whole Masked Singer/Eurovision/talent show competition phase was fun and ridiculous as expected, but I liked how it also focused on Zari as a character and what her life was like before she joined the Legends.  And I thought they did a good job at showing how silly it could be, but not mocking it, and if anything, showing how strong her drive and determination was to thrive in that industry and era, and how those strengths play a part in her success on the team as well.  Tala Ashe continues to be one of the highlights out of the entire Arrowverse.

I also like that this led to her and Constantine taking the first steps to admitted that they aren't just "a fling", but a real relationship now.  It's understandable why both worry that this will end tragedy (and who knows, it certainly could end up that way), but I'm glad they are actually going to finally make a go of it and not just automatically assume the worst.

Loved that the alien didn't try to pull a fast one at the end and actually accepted his loss.  Sure, he was apparently part of a species that seems to be all about invading every planet they can, but at least they do follow some form of code!  Kind of wish he would stick around, but as soon as he revealed his "true form", I figured it was going to end with a squashing.  Dammit, Mick!

Mick certainly regressed a lot throughout this episode and I do think he deserved to be called out on it, but despite their best efforts, it still felt kind of ridiculous for it to be Ava of all people.  Especially her being huffy with him at the beginning about him being upset over Sara not being there, when she has pretty much been doing that for the past two episodes.  They probably didn't intend for it to come off that way, but it felt like she was marking her territory and acting like she's the only one allowed to miss Sara.  Even though Mick actually knows Sara the longest and it makes sense that her absence would be throwing him off (and I also liked that he mentioned "Haircut" as well, because I do think Ray leaving is also affecting him.)  In the end, neither one really came out looking good, but only one of them seems to be championed by the show as the new captain and next big thing, and I haven't seen it yet.  Honestly, I never thought I'd say this before, but I almost feel like Nate would be the best choice to lead right now.

So, Sara and Gary are on a planet filled with Ava clones?  And I guess they're being controlled by this mysterious guy at the end?  I just hope this goes somewhere soon, because the lack of Sara has been noticeable.  Did Caity Lotz want a lighter schedule for some reason?

[appositival]

Lord Knox was ruthless but honorable and we shall not soon see his like.

If only they could give Rory's sketch to someone with a vast armada of ships who could scourge the universe looking for "chicken-wing" faced aliens. I think Rory is plus one, minus two on the general tally of usefulness.

On the other hand, free armor! Ray could shrink down and pilot the armor and then jump out and finish the job when the armor gets trashed.

[legaleagle53]

I'm surprised that nobody noticed that the show has finally remembered that Nate has his own meta power. When was the last time that we saw him in his Steel form?

[BK1978]

17 hours ago, tv echo said:

Despite the show's constant pushing to make Ava (and Jes Macallan) the new lead of LoT, it's clear - at least to me - that Tala Ashe is the real breakout star of LoT.

Honestly, at this point Tala is one of the only reasons why I am still watching this show.  I forgot that it was on last week and when I remembered I was like, "Ah screw it, that show is not that great."  Which bothers me because I used to really like this show, especially the first two seasons.

Now it is just a poorly written show with cringe comedy.  For me it started to go downhill when Ava and Gary were introduced and then later Mona and Konane.  Ava just has no personality to me her character is very bland.

I despise Gary with a passion.  So much so that I have even complained about him in the Big Brother thread, a show that has nothing to do with this one at all.  I am not even sure how the topic was brought up, but I remember bitching about how much I dislike the character.

The thing is the rest of the cast is fine for me.  I actually really like Sara, Mick, Zari (Not going to lie, Tala Ashe being a total knockout is part of the reason why I like her on the show), Constantine (He is one of my favorite DC characters and any comic he appears in I will buy), and Nate.  The rest of the current cast, besides Ava and Gary, I am neutral on.

Anyway last night's episode was mostly cringe for me and I am really annoyed that they managed to get Ever Fallen In Love stuck in my head.  I like the song but I don't want to be singing it to myself for the next month.

[futurechemist]

Were we supposed to recognize the guy at the end who found Sara? The show seemed to think it was a shocking twist, but I had no idea who he was.

I do like how zany Legends is and how any attempt to summarize it makes one look crazy. Zari must win a singing contest against an alien warlord which is judged by her ex-boyfriend in a giant s'mores costume. Meanwhile on another planet, Gary the alien ate a bunch of clones of Sara's fiance while Sara was wounded after being poisoned by Amelia Earhart.

[blackwing]

The Ava and Gary show continues.  Sigh.  

For me the best part of the show was Sashay's song.  It was so catchy and random.  "Chain hang low like fruit from a branch, it's a juice avalanche.  Dripping from my shoulders down to my pants, diamonds look like me."  Zari's first song was great, "merci beaucoup, enchante!  Stuntin' in my Cartier!"  The second song was boring, and I thought the alien's gender bender song was boring too.

Nice that Nate actually used his powers.  I guess they saved money by not having John use any of his powers.

Where is Astra?  Did I miss the explanation for her absence?  Did she volunteer to stay on earth in current time zone and not board the ship?  Is she now going to be gone all season?

For anyone wondering, here are some of the names that Lord Krill called the "500 greatest voices" that he downloaded:

Patsy Cline, Barbra Streisand, Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, Lauryn Hill, Luciano Pavarotti, Freddie Mercury, Nina Simone, Beyonce, Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Little Richard, Prince, David Bowie, Amy Winehouse, Otis Redding, Stevie Nicks, Morrissey, Joe Crocker, Dolly Parton, James Taylor, Mavis Staples, Bonnie Raitt, Chuck Berry, Curtis Mayfield, Bruce Springsteen, Etta James, Johnny Cash, Mick Jagger, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Gladys Knight, George Michael, Andrea Bocelli, Adele, Josh Groban, Patti LuPone, Colm Wilkinson, Ben Platt, Lea Salonga, Audra McDonald, Idina Menzel, Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston.

 

On 5/17/2021 at 10:45 AM, Sakura12 said:

They got their new Sara with Ava and their new Mick with Spooner. So the OG's are just unnecessary. 

And I just noticed they are repeating the Rip storyline with Sara. With her missing, most of this current team not being close with her or not knowing her at all (Spooner, New Zari). They put a new Captain in charge that bonds with the new team. So now they are not only giving all Sara's skills to Ava they are repeating her storylines too. Only its not at all earned like Sara's was. Sara put in the work as a team member first and showed she leader by making plans and putting her team first. 

The thing is, with the Rip storyline, at least the actor was mostly unavailable or otherwise not on the show.  So there was a real reason for Rip not to appear... the actor wasn't on the show and they weren't paying him.  It's puzzling that here, Caity Lotz is still on the show.  I would have understood the whole alien abduction from last season's finale if there was a reason why Caity had to be gone and miss some filming... like if she was pregnant or something.  But she is still on the show, she is just oddly sidelined.  All so the show can prop up their darling Ava.

 

14 hours ago, BK1978 said:

Honestly, at this point Tala is one of the only reasons why I am still watching this show.  I forgot that it was on last week and when I remembered I was like, "Ah screw it, that show is not that great."  Which bothers me because I used to really like this show, especially the first two seasons.

Now it is just a poorly written show with cringe comedy.  For me it started to go downhill when Ava and Gary were introduced and then later Mona and Konane.  Ava just has no personality to me her character is very bland.

I despise Gary with a passion.  So much so that I have even complained about him in the Big Brother thread, a show that has nothing to do with this one at all.  I am not even sure how the topic was brought up, but I remember bitching about how much I dislike the character.

Agreed... Ava and Gary are the worst.  Gary is an alien who can literally devour many many enemies.  He's supposedly always been an alien.  He's not a human who just discovered he can turn into an alien.  He is an alien.  And yet they write "human" Gary EXACTLY the same way they wrote him in prior seasons.  Do the writers think we find Gary entertaining?  Because I for one do not.  I find him exhausting.  It would have been a welcome change if all of a sudden now that they retconned Gary into being an alien that they would have made his "human" persona a lot more confident.  Instead of the pearl clutching, skittish, wimpy embarrassment that he is.

30 minutes ago, futurechemist said:

Were we supposed to recognize the guy at the end who found Sara? The show seemed to think it was a shocking twist, but I had no idea who he was.

I was trying to figure it out too, I have no idea who he is either.  Is the actor supposed to be familiar or someone we have seen before?

[Sakura12]

Astra said she didn't want to stay on the ship so she wouldn't get roped into helping the Legends. She said she wants to discover what it's like to live on topside as a person. Something Ava should be doing.

Since she is basically a robot with a programmed personality. That is why she makes a terrible choice to be a Captain. She has no life experience at all. She was born an adult and was programmed by Rip to have the traits he wanted as a model employee. That may have worked for the Time Buereu but the Legends are not structured like a company and shouldn't be. That is their whole point. 

[benteen]

Very fun episode and the best of the season.  Agreed that Tala Ashe as Zari continues to be the MVP on this show.  She consistently brings it and I also agree Original Zari would have made a much stronger acting captain for the Waverider.  It also helps that she has chemistry with everyone.

I enjoy all the storylines and gimmicks they try and this episode is no exception.  Lord Knox was a very fun villain and I enjoyed that he actually held himself to the rules of Da Throne.  I was hoping he would show up again and was NOT happy when Mick squashed him.

Mick was an ass in this but I like that he misses Sara and it's a nice nod to their friendship.  I like Spooner too and Mick's confused reaction to the original "OG" line was pretty funny.  This episode had a lot of funny dialogue.

While the situation Sara is in IS interesting, the show completely WASTES Caity Loiz again.  It's clear that they are either disinterested in Sara or don't know what else to do with her outside of her relationship with Ava.

[tv echo]

Worth another look - Zari's two performances on Da Throne...

Zari Wild Card Performance in Da Throne [4K] | Legends of Tomorrow 06x03
ClipsVerse     May 17, 2021

DC's Legends Of Tomorrow | Zari And John Sing | Season 6
DC's Legends Clips    May 16, 2021

 

[Sakura12]

Sara's storyline is an afterthought (like her one last season), they only care for how it can benefit Ava's storyline. 

Sara is treated like she's Ava's guest star love interest. She is not allowed to have any thoughts or feelings that are not about Ava. She can only talk to other characters about Ava. She has no friends or family besides Ava. 

[blackwing]

12 minutes ago, Sakura12 said:

Sara's storyline is an afterthought (like her one last season), they only care for how it can benefit Ava's storyline. Sara is not important to the show anymore, since she's treated like she's Ava's guest star love interest. 

I found it completely ludicrous that Sara and Gary just happened to land on a planet that not only contained an Amelia Earhart alien, but an entire cadre of Ava clones.  Why Ava clones?  She didn't even know she was a clone until several years ago.  Out of all the beings in the universe, these aliens chose to take on Ava's appearance?

I'm sure the showrunners will make up some explanation about how the aliens can read someone's mind and take on the appearance of someone meaningful.... but that's complete BS since the appearance of "Amelia Earhart" seems to have no rhyme or reason or connection to Sara.  It's obvious the only reason why these Ava clones appeared is to continue to prop up Jess MacAllan and Captain Ava and to add to her story.  "Did you think I wouldn't know MY Ava?"  Yep.  "Her" Ava.

They might as well rename this show "DC's Ava All Along".

This show has had a lot of characters/actors that I really disliked (Kendra, Prof. Stein, Jax, Ray etc) but I've stuck through it just the same.  But the increased focus on the Ava/Gary show is truly testing my patience.  This could be my last season.

[Cthulhudrew]

I liked this one better than the first few eps this season, and I like Constantine and Zari. I don't like how cliche "rom-com" they are making them (especially in this ep), though. It really doesn't fit Constantine's character at all- not even now that he has a new lease on life. I did like the ending song, but everything else was pretty cringe (even the tired "he overhears her telling ____ that it won't work" trope). 

John's had romantic partners before, and they didn't write him this shmoopily. Can't he and Zari have a more mature relationship (like Constantine did with Desmond ins S4 and 5?)